Ryan slated to deliver SOTU response on Tuesday

posted at 1:36 pm on January 21, 2011 by Ed Morrissey

Did Paul Ryan lose a bet with John Boehner? Being honored with the task of responding to a State of the Union speech is somewhat akin to following Justin Bieber on stage to sing a medley of 1950s Broadway show tunes to an audience of teeny-boppers. However, the Republican policy master from Wisconsin will bravely give it his best on Tuesday, even though history shows that one’s best doesn’t matter:

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced today that House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) will deliver the Republican address following the President’s State of the Union address to Congress on January 25, 2011. Last year – in an unprecedented failure – Congressional Democrats chose not to pass, or even propose a budget, punting on a duty that represents the most basic responsibility of governing. Chairman Ryan will deliver the Republican address Tuesday night from the House Budget Committee hearing room, where the Democrats’ spending spree will end and the Republicans’ push for a fiscally responsible budget that cuts spending will begin.

In making the announcement, the GOP leaders noted that Chairman Ryan is a leading voice for fiscal discipline and common-sense solutions to cut spending and create jobs. Known for his thoughtful and detailed critiques of big-government policies, Ryan has helped put to rest the Democrats’ argument that more government spending and higher taxes is the answer to most of our nation’s ills. His commitment to free enterprise and limited government make him the right choice to outline a vision for how a smaller, less costly government will help create the right conditions for the creation of good, private sector jobs.
“Paul Ryan is uniquely qualified to address the state of our economy and the fiscal challenges that face our country,” said Speaker Boehner. “We’re broke, and decisive action is needed to help our economy get back to creating jobs and end the spending binge in Washington that threatens our children’s future. I’m pleased that Paul will be outlining a common-sense vision for moving our country forward.”

Leader McConnell said, “Paul Ryan has spent the better part of the last two years explaining exactly why the Democrat agenda has been so bad for jobs and the economy, and why we need to ditch the government-driven approach in favor of creative, common-sense solutions that put the American people back in charge. Chairman Ryan’s unique understanding of the fiscal problems we face, his command of policy, and his adherence to the principles of our nation’s founding make him an excellent spokesman for the path that Americans want Washington to take.”

This surprises me a little, given the smart strategy employed by the GOP last year. In 2010, they had Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell give the SOTU response from the floor of the Virginia Assembly, with an audience of Republican legislators. While the optics didn’t reach the same level of grandeur as a President speaking in front of a joint session of Congress, it did at least frame the speech in a similar manner. In other years, both Democrats and Republicans have had their SOTU responses staged from a studio with no audience at all, a jarring change from the large, cheering spectacle viewers had just witnessed. I assumed that Republicans might want to repeat last year’s strategy with another Republican governor, perhaps Chris Christie, speaking on fiscal reform.

Of course, Ryan is the House’s leading light on fiscal reform. Ryan has excellent speaking skills and knows the data to a great level of detail, so he will have no trouble communicating the need for real budget reductions and restructuring to the American people — at least those still paying attention by the time he speaks. That’s likely to be around 10:30 ET at the earliest, since Obama’s speech is scheduled to start at 9 pm ET and will certainly go more than an hour. Will Ryan spend much time on his specialty of entitlement reform? Will Obama even bring the topic up in the SOTU? That may make for enough suspense to keep people tuned in.

Boehner and McConnell apparently decided to make the House the focus of fiscal reform, which is a smart strategy as far as the overall thrust of the 112th Session goes. I’m not sure that they’ve chosen wisely on the optics in this particular case. The best result for Ryan will be that he doesn’t do himself any damage, as did Bobby Jindal in the 2009 response, but I’m not hopeful for a lot of upside to another traditional SOTU response.

Update: Bryan Pick offered some advice a couple of months ago about how the GOP should think outside the box:

Take advantage of the fact that they have fewer restraints.

First, make it a table discussion with more than one responder. As a suggestion, include at least one governor to remind the audience that there are independent sources of authority, laboratories of policy that should retain their power to handle local problems (a big-city mayor could also do), and also include a legislator representing the opposition in Congress to directly address the president’s agenda on the federal level.

This also takes the pressure off of any one person to speak for the party, and signals that the opposition is having a frank conversation, not speaking press-release style through the great filter of lawyers and focus-group-tested language. Make good use of stars like Paul Ryan and Chris Christie who have shown they’re champs at off-the-cuff communication and aren’t afraid to take on big issues. Bobby Jindal would have been far better suited to this than talking into a camera solo.

Second, use resources the president doesn’t have. The president is limited by the tradition of giving his speech in the chamber of the House of Representatives, which only affords him a microphone, a teleprompter and an audience. Instead of trying to beat the president at his own game, use a modern-looking studio, where the responders can make use of supporting staff and visual aids like charts and video.

There’s more along those lines; hopefully Boehner and McConnell will consider at least some of it.

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I would prefer that Republicans didn’t have to give an alternate SOTU address. I would prefer that presidents actually give a literal state of the union address rather than a political speech. But then, that’s not going to happen.

I like the idea. That could make for some visual interest instead of just another boring speech. A graph with the debt growth…with that steep incline rocketing off the page in the last two years. The reaction of the public would be instant since it would be much easier for the average mind than a bunch of numbers.

I hope they change their minds on the optics thing. Although maybe they can make something work with the budget committee thing. Will the rest of the committee (the repub half) be there? Can they do something different than just talking to a camera?

If he uses lots of charts, this could be really wonktastic – which is just what the party needs right now – people need to refudiate the “dumb violent hick” meme – Palin’s been the best at calling the dems out on it, who better than Ryan to provide visual, compelling evidence even the most effete pseudo-intellectual can’t ignore?

I think its actually pomp versus substance. I’ll never forget Ryan schooling Barry at that televised health care sit down to the point Barry could just utter “Well they said the price so thats the price”.

Rep. Ryan is an excellent choice. He is poised, articulate, and knowledgeable, especially on economic matters. He can present facts in a succinct and convincing way. Ryan managed to shut ObaMao up during the “health care summit” at the Blair House because it was apparent that he was not dazzling with bs.

Besides that, he is young and forward-looking. This is a plus for those who are wondering about their own economic futures.

Being honored with the task of responding to a State of the Union speech is somewhat akin to following Justin Bieber on stage to sing a medley of 1950s Broadway show tunes to an audience of teeny-boppers.

Wait, WHO is living in a time warp here?

Newsflash: this is not January, 2009. Obama stopped being the New Elvis quite some time ago.

OF COURSE anyone who criticizes The One will still be savagely gang-raped by the liberal media. But that is what being a conservative leader means. Every Republican politician in America can’t very well hide behind Sarah Palin’s apron strings forever. At some point, someone else in the Republican Party is going to have to grow a pair of balls.

The Republican Party is DESPERATE for more leaders right now. This is the opportunity of a lifetime. I’m not saying Ryan will necessarily hit a home run here. But we can’t go on forever with a lineup that consists of one batter.

I know this is a bad attitude….but does can anyone actually stomach sitting through an entire speech of this Doofus? I would love to hear Ryan’s rebuttal…but I can’t make it 5 minutes listening to His Highness without wanting to throw something at the TV.

I know this is a bad attitude….but does can anyone actually stomach sitting through an entire speech of this Doofus? I would love to hear Ryan’s rebuttal…but I can’t make it 5 minutes listening to His Highness without wanting to throw something at the TV.

search4truth on January 21, 2011 at 2:05 PM

Try this: If you can watch the video from one source, and listen to the audio of another (like watching TV and hearing the home theater), turn the audio to a Sponge Bob Squarepants cartoon.

I know this is a bad attitude….but does can anyone actually stomach sitting through an entire speech of this Doofus? I would love to hear Ryan’s rebuttal…but I can’t make it 5 minutes listening to His Highness without wanting to throw something at the TV.

search4truth on January 21, 2011 at 2:05 PM

“Watch it” by following along on an open thread. The commenters will fill you in on the pertinent details. You can always read a copy of the speech later to learn how vacuous it is.

I never listen to the Trickster. His voice and studied verbal tricks annoy the h*ll out of me. He says nothing…with dramatic pauses.

I’m delighted that Paul Ryan is going to be making the SOTU response. I loved him in the health care debate with Obama. Ryan was smart, straightforward, and knew what he was talking about. The Republicans made a great choice.

I know this is a bad attitude….but does can anyone actually stomach sitting through an entire speech of this Doofus? I would love to hear Ryan’s rebuttal…but I can’t make it 5 minutes listening to His Highness without wanting to throw something at the TV.
search4truth on January 21, 2011 at 2:05 PM

That’s why TiVo was invented.

Try what I do: Don’t ever watch Obama real-time. Instead, just pick a random 5-minute spot. (It’ll actually only be about 1 minute of him talking, and the rest is him pausing for orgiastic adulation from the crowd.)

I guarantee that you’ll find three or four INSANELY bizarre things for any US President to say, that will never be mentioned once, even among the conservative media. It’s not that they’re lax; it’s just an impossible task to address Obama’s constant stream of Pivin-isms — because very phrase out of this man’s mouth is so densely packed with raw sociopathic ferver.

In Jan 1995 the GOP had Christine Todd Whitman give the SOTU response from the NJ Assembly chambers. She did it with all the pomp and spectacle possible, including a brace of NJ State Troopers in those snazzy unis with the belted caps. It, of course , was a different GOP than now. More GOP than conservative. To have Christie, with a full year record as Governor duplicate the Whitman performance would displease the majority of today’s GOP and conservatives. But it would make for great spectacle.

Ryan isn’t Jindal. That said, you are correct in that the media will say he flubbed up and the NR crowd will say (they hate to say it /) but he is not ready for POTUS, yet.

The message is stark, we need to cut spending because we simply cannot afford the government we have. Reorganization is inevitable. Ryan understands this. I am not confident that the rest of the crop has gotten the memo.

I am hopeful that the President will work with the new House Majority to cut spending, reform government, and restore the foundations for growth and job creation. More than rhetoric, we need results. I look forward to outlining a vision for a future that fulfills the uniquely American legacy of leaving the next generation with a stronger, more prosperous nation.

Rep. Ryan what gives you hope? The “only government” President has shown no inclination to cut spending and every indication of increasing it, adding bureaucracies, and blaming the private sector for the sad state of job growth.

I love the idea of visual aids. Remember, Perot got TWENTY PERCENT of the vote in 92 due to his half hour infomercials that featured pie charts and graphs. Americans GET IT when they are shown the facts.

So GOP, get the visual aids ready and have at it.

I can’t stand obummers speech cadence. He pauses all the time to allow the teleprompter to catch up to him. A$$hat.